Father Reaches of Space
Father Reaches of Space is an episode of Sparks Nevada, Marshal on Mars. Audio Episode audio from Nerdist Cast WorkJuice Players *Sparks Nevada - Marc Evan Jackson *Croach the Tracker - Mark Gagliardi *The Red Plains Rider - Busy Philipps *Outlaw Father (see Notes section) - John Ennis *"Cactoid Jim" aka Jib Janeen - Paul F. Tompkins *Folksy Hal (Narrator) - Hal Lublin Guest Stars *Outlaw Son - (see Notes section) - Chris Hardwick Musical Guest *Weird Al Yankovic Detailed Description Croach the Tracker, now back in the company of Sparks Nevada, is much more interested in The Red Plains Rider being pregnant than the fact that he was temporarily replaced by the Jupiter Spy. In the last month, Sparks had another scientist to build a DNA tester that works. Croach has Sparks and Red both do their DNA testing, but he set the machine to test to see if Sparks is Red's baby's father. It will take awhile for the test to conclude. A distress beacon is activated, and Sparks says it's Cactoid Jim's beacon. Red says that Jim has been back on Mars after dismantling the Punishment Soccer on Earth's moon, and is now splitting time between Earth and Mars (as well as between herself and Rebecca Rose Rushmore, who he is still legally married to, but separated from.) Red insists they go rescue Jim, and notes that she installed a gyroscopic saddle to protect her baby. Along the way, Sparks, Red and Croach notice that there's a bank robbery in progress, so they divert course. Inside the bank, a father and son outlaw team are performing a stick-up. Sparks, Red, and Croach enter, and the outlaws holding up the bank are surprised Sparks isn't distracted by Jim's distress call. The father says he was monitoring the radio to know when the optimum time to break the law was. He tells his son to activate the gun robots, but both father and son argue over who was supposed to purchase them and set them up. They decide to be arrested peacefully, as their plan has fallen through. Sparks doesn't have time to take them to jail, so he hogties them and puts them in his sidecar. They arrive at Cactoid Jim's location, and Jim doesn't look like he's in any distress. Jim is actually Jib Janeen, the Jupiter Spy. Jib wavers in between saying he was in trouble and was not in trouble. In reality, Jib knocked Cactoid Jim out and put him in a carbonite freeze, then stored him in a nearby cave, unbeknownst to Sparks and the others. Jib then says he activated the beacon so he could get Red to come to him so he can propose. Sparks reminds Red that the baby might instead be his. Red says that she and Jim are not the same as they used to be before they split and wants to know if Jim is sure he wants to be the same person he used to be, or the person he's been recently. Jib says he's more recent Jim, and Red is disappointed. During the distraction, the outlaws got themselves un-hogtied but Sparks notices and re-ties them. The son says he wants to see how the Red / Jim / Sparks situation plays out, and ruins their chances for escape. The father, resigned, says he wishes he could learn for his son so he stopped making mistakes Sparks waxes about this, saying you can no more learn for folk than beat yourself up when they disappoint you. He says folk who already know stuff can just be there for folk who need to learn and hope it rubs off. Red asks how Sparks learned all that, and he says it's partially from his dad trying to make Sparks into himself, a little bit from riding with Croach, a lot from riding with Red, and mostly by being Marshal and hoping for better and not being disappointed when folk disappoint him. Red says the DNA test is done, as she had it set to silent no one heard it finish, and declares that the baby's daddy is Sparks. Notes *This episode was performed as part of the 8-year anniversary show. *Weird Al Yankovic performs the theme song. In the introduction, he notes that he, also, is from Earth. At the end of the theme song, he says, along with Sparks Nevada, "And we're from Earth!" *Brian Stack's introduction of the cast purposefully names Nathan Fillion as Cactoid Jim so Jib Janeen's entrance would be a surprise. There is a note from Stack at the end correcting the "mistake" and attributing the performance to Paul F. Tompkins. *The introduction also lists the father outlaw as "the Dad Kid", however, the Dad Kid was the name Pembroke Cartwright gave himself, and the Kid Kid was the cowboy name Pembroke gave to his daughter, Alex Cartwright. These characters are also not NiceMan Dan and Highwayman Dan. Per Acker and Blacker: "The credits were already recorded but we had to change the characters (greatly) for the episode, due to casting. We never refer to those father/son bandits by name, so they've yet to be named." Continuity * This is the 124th episode of The Thrilling Adventure Hour. * The previous episode was #123 The Adventures of Captain Laserbeam - Secret Disservice. * The next episode is #125 Beyond Belief - Art Imitates Life. * The previous episode in Sparks Nevada canon is #121 The Thing From This Same Planet! * The next episode in Sparks Nevada canon is #127 Wanted Men. Production This episode was recorded at Largo on March 2, 2013 and released July 1, 2013. *Writers: Ben Acker and Ben Blacker *Director: Aaron Ginsburg *Music: Andy Paley & the Andy Paley Orchestra *Sparks Nevada theme: Eban Schletter Category:Sparks Nevada episodes Category:Largo episodes Category:March 2013 segments